Pascale De La Tour "Shades of Gray"

A Star, Swiftly Rising
Who could guess that behind those sunken eyes and pallid skin is the soul of a hero, once praised in the annals of the Silver Record? In another time, under another name, it was said the Wyrm would flee her very presence.

In a world where corruption pervaded, a young woman of only 17 years watched as her life fell apart; not as a result of a first change, as is so often the case, but due to the machinations of the very Beast she would grow to combat with peerless zeal. A great plague struck the city of Paris, leaving her with little except a trust fund and her own good wits. Determined to make her way in the world, and armed with little more than a flawless 4.0 GPA, she moved to a youth hostel and applied for a student visa to the United States.

When the acceptance letter came, she flew across the sea and landed in Miami-- only to be quarantined in a facility run by the W.I.C. MEGALODON. Terrified that she would grow ill surrounded by those infested with plague, she realized a new directive: the time for compliance and manners had passed.

It was time to survive.

So she did what any wolf would do when cornered. She tried to escape-- determined to fight her way through anything and anyone who got in her way. Instinct took over. She grew stronger, braver, wilder... until at last, the first change came upon her like lightning strikes the ground.

It is an odd thing, to find oneself through being lost-- but that is precisely what occurred. The Sept of Blazing Sun allowed her to take this new life... and hold on to it with both hands. It was like climbing a rope, suspended over a great chasm: there was nowhere to go, but up. The idea of pursuing a Law degree at the Sorbonne became a faded dream compared to a Gaia-given calling. Every waking moment would be devoted to mastering a new society and a new purpose. After all, how many people were given such opportunity? To save the world?

In 5 short years she reached the cusp of Elder. Along the way, she led harrowing missions against the Wyrm-- twice delving into the heart of Malfeas. Her packs felled first teams, Black Spiral Dancers, and thunderwyrms. They traversed the surface of the Sun-- and gave all in service to Gaia when the time came for sacrifice.

With the Hive in Gary, Indiana destroyed; a new caern erected in its place-- Gaia sang her joy.

...And when Gaia sings, miraculous things happen.

From the ashes of the impossible, the young Fang rose again.

But what happened next no one, save perhaps Gaia, could have predicted. On an Elder challenge, she returned to Europe to reveal a corrupt seneschal in open court... prepared to challenge, and even to kill, for the honor of her people... As Calvain de Provence heard the words of the Silver Pack Philodox, a number of Elders, ignorant of the evidence and jealous of the favor bestowed on her through a seeming resurrection-- took advantage of the King's paranoid bent... and convinced him to cast her out from the tribe.

Once again, the directive came.

The time for heroism and glory had passed.

Now was the time to survive.

A Crown of Thorns
Tribless, totemless, dejected, and lost-- the 22 year old did not know where to turn. In her heart was the need to defy them, and the confidence that she would overcome... but the world seemed a much larger, less accommodating, place. Stripped of Anamae, and having lost all rank, she took to the wilds for the solace they brought. Each night, dreaming of shadows, and the rumble of storms.

Where once the blood of her mother compelled her to rule, now the blood of her Father commanded her to conquer. It was then that she realized the truth of her existence-- somewhere between silver and shadow, emblematic of the half moon under which she had been born. Half a lifetime, she had struggled against the odds-- and this time would be no different. There was honor in the struggle, and honor was worth suffering for.

As the rolling storms of April poured heavy rain down upon her, she remembered, with a dose of bitter irony, that it was almost Easter; an end to the fast and a time to rise again, if ever there was one. With eyes turned skyward she howled a promise to the winds; a promise to cast off, but never to forget, the person she had been, and embrace the life that Gaia had returned to her. With this promise came the name Pascale-- in keeping with the season. If this suffering Gaia mandated, so that she might rise again-- it was a crown of thorns proudly borne upon her lupine brow.

A Light among Shadows
The transition to Thunder's chosen was spiritually simple and socially exacting. A Philodox steeped in the honor-worshipping culture of the First Tribe traditionally has no place among the Lords, who pride themselves on cunning and back-alley deals. When the lighting struck her in the shadows of their home realm, Pascale did not know what to expect. But she felt the yoke of Falcon's chosen lift from her shoulders as if it were nothing. There was pain, true, but it was a healing hurt, and that kind of suffering was a thing she could learn from.

Somewhere in the ringing of her ears, she heard the booming voice of her patron-- whose children had so sorely misunderstood him. In the times to come, a balance had to be struck-- for he was not only the looming storm. He was the healing rain and the illuminating eclair. The swift strike, precise and merciful. He could stop a heart or start one-- conceal a scheme or bring truth to the fore. Now was the time for a subtler form of leadership-- one the teaches by example, and inspires those who know their place as followers.

As a Cliath, but one that many recognized under another name, Pascale served an instrumental purpose in improving the reputation of the Shadow Lords in the early days of the Concordat. She visited septs when moonbridges were still commonplace, and assisted elders in negotiations with the Children of Gaia and the Glasswalkers. This was where she met her long time friend and partner, a Glasswalker kinfolk by the name of Jack.

Pack - Knights of Kilgarragh, under Merlin
Lucas "Once and Future", Pack Beta, Homid Fianna Theurge Fostern

Wild Fire, Homid Uktena Galliard Fostern

Allies
Knights of Kilgarragh

Breaks-the-Chains

Long Story

Rocks the Mic (Corax)

Enemies
Creatures of the Wyrm.

That damned Nuwisha.

Rumors
Ejected from the Silver Fangs for plotting to take the Crown of King Calvin de Provence

Survived Malfeas not once, but twice.

A Half-blood who survived a great trials and once held Gaia's Favor

Once went by the name "Aricie, Sovereign Heart"

Attained the rank of Athro before her disgrace, and chose to begin again as Cliath for reasons unknown

Is a Klaviskarani of impressive skill.

While she currently awaits the end of a difficult pregnancy and the birth of her first child, she seems eerily detached from the idea of motherhood.

Easily worth the blood of both the Silver Fangs, and the Shadow Lords. If you ask the right people, of course.

Feel free to add some of your own, if you like!

Quotes
"When Gaia asks you to suffer for her-- refusal is not an option."

"Unto every shadow there is a halo of light"

"Give me 5 minutes."